in order to put a price on a protected area, remember that someone like ralph chami usually comes in to do the valuation. this can be a problem. landowners are incentivized to plant non-native plant species, instead of indigenous species, because it creates a new type of landscape that could bank carbon faster. june rubis researches nature conservation from an indigenous perspective. critics have used terms like carbon colonialism to describe this new wave of capture and closure of nature by capital. indigenous and local communities can end up being told how to manage their own land. and often, benefits go to governments or the companies, with just a small percentage reaching the actual communities themselves. one thing that's never going to go away is the discomfort and wrongness of putting a monetary value on something a majestic as this tree. or a blue whale. for now, many decision makers only speak in the language of money, not majestic-ness. until that changes, valuing nature could make it more visible to them. so should we put a price on nature? in many places, we already have.